Comic To Explore “Star Trek” Red Shirts Trope

Tied to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the franchise, IDW Publishing has announced “Star Trek: Red Shirts – Ghost of the 21st Century,” a five-issue limited horror comic series.

The comic will explore one of the most famous tropes in all of “Star Trek” – ‘red shirts’. It’s an informal term given by fans to the often nameless expendable crew members who appeared and then often died quickly during away missions in the original series.

The ‘redshirt’ term is now often used for any stock character killed off shortly after being introduced. Their main purpose is to tease the potential peril faced by more important characters. It is well known enough to have been parodied, such as with Sam Rockwell’s character in the 1999 film “Galaxy Quest”.

Penned by Gerry Duggan (“Deadpool”) and with art by Scott Buoncristiano (“Creepshow”), the standalone series appears to be set during the time of the original cast movies and begins when conscripted security grunt Harry Deubert finds contraband hidden inside a fallen comrade’s body.

He uncovers Section Null – a secret Starfleet directorate turning disposable red shirts into assets in a sprawling criminal conspiracy. Teaming with Lyna Taval, an Andorian officer with her own covert agenda, Deubert digs too deep…and becomes a target.

Someone inside Starfleet Security is selling out the Federation. And once Deubert and Taval learn what red shirts are really for, there’s no going back.

Source: CBR